October 3, 2007
Identity Theft Finally Crime, Little Mosque Not Very Funny, Hampton Hates Banks
New laws will officially criminalize identity theft by making it illegal to gather personal information which can be used for criminal purposes. Fun fact: if your identity is stolen online, the chances of the crime ever being investigated or prosecuted are practically zero. Surf safe, kids!
Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton did a little preaching to the choir yesterday when he told a crowd of supporters that Canada's banks should "stop whining and start paying some taxes." Last year, the Big Six banks paid about $6.4 billion in taxes. It's not known how much Howard Hampton paid.
The website of a Toronto mosque advises Muslims not to have anything to do with Western holidays, including congratulating others on birthdays or New Year, or engaging in any "Halloween trick-and-treat nonsense" or "first of April lies." Guess they're not putting up a tree this year.
The TTC is limiting token purchases to ten at a time to minimize hoarding before the fare increase next month, but says it will happen anyway. Since token prices are going up by 15 cents, that means a hoarder would have to make 100 trips to the wicket in order to accumulate 1000 tokens and save 15 bucks. Whatever you think of the fare increase, you really have to admire that kind of commitment.
UPDATE: It's been observed below that my math is off by an order of magnitude and it would actually save $150 if you picked up 1000 tokens. For that I apologize and offer the excuse that I write this stuff at six in the morning. Anyway, it appears that the hoarding concept is far more financially sound than I originally thought although I probably still won't bother.
Photo by eikootje on Flickr.
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It's not that difficult ... if you commute every day to work, you go by the subway station twice a day, for say, twenty weekdays in a month. That's forty trips right there.
Of course, the savings might not just be fifteen cents a token, since another fare increase is not impossible for next year.
But I use a Metropass anyway.
Ummm... maybe you should double check that math regarding the tokens.
Indeed uwajedi - 1000 x 0.15 = 150.
Or is this "the new math"?
A "typical" 40 token/month commuter will see a rise of $6/month.
Patrick.. indeed it was early. I had to triple check myself before I dared post. I don't have the power of delete here!
Delete was tempting but I decided to take the high road ;-)...
"Also banned, it says, are: watching sports or soap operas, walking dogs, family photos, wedding bands, Western hats, mingling and shaking hands with the opposite sex."
But apparently not having a website upon which you can post that idiocy. Is there anything more Western than that? Religion is dumb.
So should you just leave your dog there without walking him? the poor thing.
re: Toronto mosque
I found this on the mosque's site when I followed the link:
"2. Islaam requires us to be different from the kuffaar in matters which are representative of them or are characteristic of their identity, even if the religious aspect were not apparant in such matters. Examples of this type of requirements: growing beards and trimming moustaches, dying white hair, not to totally abandon women in their menses, etc."
HAHAHAHA!! Not to totally abandon women in their menses. Oh man. Aaahhh that's great reading. Good luck on that one, guys.
Last year, the Big Six banks paid about $6.4 billion in taxes. It's not known how much Howard Hampton paid.
Well, Howard's salaries as an MP and party leader are actually both public knowledge. But in any case, I'm willing to bet he paid a higher percentage of tax than the Big Six did, considering how low Canada's corporate tax rate is as compared to the individual tax rate. I mean, RBC's after-tax profits alone in 2006 were $4.7 billion.
And RBC spent $7.3 billion on human resources and employed over 42,000 Canadians full time.
How many people did Howard employ? Oh yeah, no one - he is our employee and we work to pay his salary.
Howard Hampton probably didn't employ 250,000 people and pay over 20 billion in salaries and benefits last year. Anyway, bank profits accrue to shareholders, which is pretty much anyone in Canada who has money in an equity fund or who pays into a corporate or government pension fund.
Howard Hampton doesn't charge me $13 a month to access my own money, which is loaned out at significantly higher interest rates to other people, to turn a profit.
No, Howard Hampton takes your tax money and travels around the province complaining about banks.
Banks provide a variety of services besides just keeping your money in a vault somewhere. They maintain ATM networks so you can access cash anywhere, anytime. They have continually upgraded tech infrastructure so that you can pay your bills via phone or web. They offer free financial advice (although of course not without some agenda.) Behind all that is a huge and expensive back office infrastructure which is driven in large part by regulation designed to protect customers.
If you don't think these services are worth 13 bucks a month, there are options. Join a credit union where you can be a shareholder/member. Keep your money under your mattress. Spend it on stuff. Send it to the Caymans. But there are way worse banking systems than what we have here.
Okay now I've seen it all. A Torontoist contributor cage match over financial services taxation.
Two writers enter! ONE WRITER LEAVES!